Tag: Albert Abreu

The Yankees are using the off-season to plan for 2019 and beyond as they look to contend for their 28 World Series title (and hopefully more) over the next couple of years. Baseball America (subscription required) has unveiled their list of the top 10 prospects in the Yankee system who will help the team bring some more titles to the Bronx.

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Twenty-four hours have passed since the Yankees reassigned six players to their minor league camp, and now three more will join them. Infielder Thairo Estrada and RHPs Albert Abreu and Jonathan Loáisiga were optioned out of big league camp. Estrada was sent to Double-A Trenton, while Abreu and Loáisiga are moved to Class-A Advanced Tampa.

Loáisiga was the only one of these three to appear in a game. He threw one scoreless inning and recorded two strikeouts March 2 against the Atlanta Braves. He had an impressive season in the minors last year, with a stellar 1.38 ERA in 11 games in the Gulf Coast League (Rookie) and Short Season-A Staten Island. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the team’s No. 14 prospect. The Yankees signed him out of a tryout in February 2016.

Abreu came to the Yankees in the trade that sent Brian McCann to the Houston Astros. Ranked as the team’s No. 5 prospect, his spring was derailed by an emergency appendectomy. He has since resumed throwing, but did not appear in any exhibition games. Despite dealing with a shoulder strain, Abreu threw 53⅓ innings between Rookie, Low-A and High-A before a stint in the Arizona Fall League in 2017. His regular season ERA was 3.38 between the three levels before posting a 2.60 mark in six AFL starts.

Estrada turned heads behind a .301/.353/.392 (107 wRC+) line in 122 games for Double-A Trenton. The 22-year-old also logged innings at shortstop, second base and third base in the Eastern League. Then, in 20 Arizona Fall League games, Estrada slashed his way to being named the No. 10 prospect with a .342/.381/.430 line in the fall circuit. But, Estrada was shot in the right hip during a botched robbery attempt in his home country of Venezuela. He is expected to return to game action in 2018, although the timetable is not clear. Estrada signed for $49,000 in August 2012.

These players were optioned, rather than reassigned, because all three of them are on the 40-man roster. Each was added to the 40-man this past offseason, so they each have two option years remaining. The Yankees can promote and re-option these players as many times during the 2018 season without burning another option year.

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The Yankees need a third baseman, and may be trying to fill that hole with a three-time All-Star. Per FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman, the Bronx Bombers once again engaged the Baltimore Orioles in trade talks on 25-year-old third baseman Manny Machado late last week.

The New York Yankees, apparently excited about the idea they could make their excellent winter even better and more star-studded, were back in contact with the Baltimore Orioles regarding Manny Machado this week, sources say…

The Yankees actually may have the best chance of several contenders to land Machado, but word still is that the Orioles haven’t been tempted by anything they’ve heard from anyone regarding the superstar infielder.

Machado will be a free agent after the 2018 season, and teams are weary of giving up premier talent without some assurance that he would consider signing a long-term extension wherever he ends up. He has already expressed interest in moving back to shortstop, the position where he played until being blocked in Baltimore by J.J. Hardy. Nevertheless, Machado won Gold Gloves at the hot corner in 2013 and 2015.

Offensively, Machado struggled in 2017. He managed to slash just .230/.296/.445 with 18 home runs and 47 RBIs in 83 games before the All-Star break. He did not get any help from a .239 BABIP rate. The second-half was much improved, where he hit .290/.326/.500 and added another 15 home runs. All told, he put together a .259/.310/.471 (102 wRC+) line with 33 home runs and 95 RBIs.

The Orioles are said to want at least two MLB-ready pitchers in any trade package for Machado. For the Yankees, that would mean someone in the category of Chance Adams, Justus Sheffield or one of Domingo Acevedo/Albert Abreu. The Yanks have been pushing Adams as their top trade chip, hoping to keep the higher upside guys like Sheffield, Acevedo and Abreu. There are also reports (one from Joel Sherman) that the Orioles “actually like [Jacoby] Ellsbury a little,” though any trade would be complicated by his no-trade clause.

Though it would not be wise to count Brian Cashman out for any deal, it does not appear to be worth it for the Yankees to give up premier talent within their own division for only one guaranteed year of Machado. They appear comfortable with letting Miguel Andújar compete for the starting job out of Spring Training, and are keeping tabs on free agents like Todd Frazier and Eduardo Núñez.

In a perfect world, Andújar or a veteran on a 1-year deal hold down the hot corner in 2018, and Machado puts on the pinstripes for 2019. But, if it turns out that the Yankees do not need Machado, they can focus on signing top-level starting pitching or fill whatever holes may come up during the course of the season.

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The reigning 2017 National League Most Valuable Player will almost certainly be suiting up in the Bronx in 2018. The New York Yankees have acquired OF Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins in exchange for 2B Starlin Castro, RHP Jorge Guzman and IF José Devers. The deal is currently pending since all players involved must pass physicals.

Source: Marlins will get Castro and two prospects from the Yankees. Yankees will assume $265 million of the $295 million on Stanton’s contract.

Neither club has confirmed the deal. The Yankees will take on $265 million of the remaining $295 million on Stanton’s contract. He can use a player option to opt out of his deal after the 2020 season.

The team plans to rotate Stanton with Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner in between the two corner outfield positions and designated hitter role. Stanton hit 59 home runs in 2017 en route to being named NL MVP and Hank Aaron Award winner. His slashline was .281/.376/.631, and also tallied an MLB-leading 132 RBIs.

The Yankees bought low on Castro, trading RHP Adam Warren and UTIL Brendan Ryan to the Chicago Cubs to acquire the young infielder. In his Yankees tenure, Castro hit .283/.317/.442 with 37 home runs and 133 RBIs. He was limited to just 112 games in 2017 because of a recurring hamstring issue. The Yankees will have Ronald Torreyes, Tyler Wade, Gleyber Torres and Thairo Estrada in camp to compete for the starting job at second base.

Guzman was the Yankees No. 9 prospect, pitching to a 2.30 ERA and 11.9 K/9 for Short Season-A Staten Island. Guzman came to the Yankees alongside Albert Abreu in the trade that sent Brian McCann to the Houston Astros. Devers got his first taste of minor league action at age-17 this year with the Dominican Summer League Yankees and Gulf Coast League Yankees East club. He hit .245/.336/.342 with one home run and 16 RBIs combined in Rookie ball. He is the cousin of Red Sox 3B Rafael Devers.

Though they were not actively pursuing Stanton at first, the Yankees were one of four teams that he would waive his no-trade clause to join. The other teams were the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. Stanton vetoed trades to the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals earlier this week. It appeared that general manager Brian Cashman had the opportunity to acquire Stanton for cheap, and took advantage.

Recent reports indicate that the Marlins are already taking calls on Starlin Castro, and will look to flip him to another contending team. The New York Mets have reportedly shown interest in Castro already. The 27-year-old is owed $22.71 million guaranteed through 2019, with a $16 million team option ($1 million buyout) for 2020.

One of the biggest knocks against the Yankees is that they cannot develop pitchers. However, this prospect list clearly indicates that the Yankees have some promising arms that could be MLB-ready soon. Sheffield is the most MLB-ready of the bunch, having hit 98 mph with his fastball and the best slider in the system. Norris listed the pitching depth as the system’s biggest strength.

The system’s biggest weakness? Catching. That won’t be a short-term problem since Gary Sánchez will control the starting catching job for years to come, barring anything unexpected. Their next best catcher is Kyle Higashioka, who went hitless in 20 plate appearances while Sánchez was injured in 2017. Higashioka did hit .338/.390/.797 in the minors in 2017, but in just 21 games because of injuries. Norris lists Jason Lopez and Saul Torres as the “next catching prospects,” but notes they “played at short-season Staten Island and Rookie-level Pulaski, respectively.”

Norris opines that the Yankees’ system is trending downwards, but that is only because of trades and graduations to the big leagues. When talents like Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier, Chad Green and Jordan Montgomery are no longer “prospects,” it’s easy to see how the system takes a hit.

Be sure to read through the whole post on Baseball America (linked above), as Norris projects the Yankees 2021 lineup and also lists which players have the best tools in the system.

The Yankees acquired Abreu in the trade that sent Brian McCann to the Houston Astros. He pitched well in 2017, putting up a 2-3 record and 3.38 ERA across three minor league levels with the Yankees. He displayed strikeout stuff (10.3 K/9) but had command issues (3.0 BB/9) that will have to be ironed out in the lower minor leagues. Abreu impressed in the Arizona Fall League, finishing with a 2.60 ERA and 23 strikeouts in six AFL starts.

Acevedo signed with the Yankees March 3, 2013, as an international amateur free agent. The 6’7″ right-hander started 23 games across three different MiLB levels, topping out at Triple-A. His lanky frame has allowed him to reach up to 103 mph with his fastball. He finished 2017 with a 3.25 ERA and 9.6 K/9 rate. He has the potential to be a starter if he can manage his mechanics, but also could end up as a potent back-end reliever.

Estrada is another player who put himself on the radar with a strong Arizona Fall League performance. He was second on the Scottsdale Scorpions in average, hitting .342/.381/.430 with a homer and 10 RBIs. A versatile middle infielder, Estrada batted .301/.353/.392 with six homers and 48 RBIs exclusively with Double-A Trenton.

Loáisiga serves as the wild card. The Yankees were bound to protect another pitcher, and they chose the 23-year-old from Nicaragua. In 11 starts with the Yankees organization in 2017, Loáisiga was filthy. He went just 1-1, but had a stunning 1.83 ERA and 9.1 K/9 compared to 0.8 BB/9. To protect a guy who has not pitched above Short Season-A is rare, but Loáisiga showed he deserved it.

McKinney was the 24th overall pick in the 2013 Amateur Draft, selected by the Oakland Athletics. He was traded in 2014 with Addison Russell and Dan Straily to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. McKinney found himself in the package with Gleyber Torres, Adam Warren and Rashad Crawford that went to the Yankees in exchange for Aroldis Chapman in 2016. Once he hit Triple-A in 2017, McKinney turned heads, batting .306/.336/.541 with 10 homers and 35 RBIs in 55 games. The Yankees sent him to the Arizona Fall League (which foreshadowed his protection), where he finished second with 20 RBIs. He also played first base in the AFL, aiming to increase his versatility.

As mentioned above, Torres came to the Yankees in the Chapman deal during the 2016 “rebuild”. The consensus No. 1 prospect in MLB, Torres’ 2017 season was cut short after he tore his left UCL sliding into home plate in a Triple-A game. He missed the rest of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He was on a rotation of playing third base, shortstop and second base in order to find a position for him in the major league lineup. He was hitting .309/.406/.457 in 23 Triple-A Games prior to his injury. The Yankees are not allowing him to play winter ball, but Brian Cashman implied that Torres will be able to compete for a job during Spring Training.

The Yankees obviously had very tough decisions to make regarding who to protect. They made many trades, and had to leave a lot of talent unprotected. If a team selects an eligible player from the Yankees who is not on the 40-man roster, they pay the Yankees a fee and must keep that player on their active roster for the entirety of the season. If they are unable to keep that player on the active roster, they must return him to the Yankees and they will get a refund. If another team keeps that player on the active roster for the entire season (like the San Diego Padres did with C Luis Torrens in 2016), they gain ownership of the players rights, and can send them to the minor leagues.